108 

THE COMITY OF SPIDERS 

The interesting habits of this 

Misumenops 

were first described by 

Pocock in 1898, but I have since had the opportunity to confirm and 

extend the original description (Bristowe, 1931). This spider inhabits 

Malaya, Borneo and Sumatra. It sits just inside the pitchers of 

Nepenthes gracilis 

Korth., and in the Singapore district I found one 

spider to approximately every five pitchers 

TEXT FIG. 4.   

Misumenops

nepenthicola

 Poc. sitting inside a pitcher of 

Nepenthes gracilis 

Korth. The diagram shows the portions of the pitcher with 

fluid, with glands, and free of glands. 

examined. When an insect arrives inside the pitcher, attracted by the 

plant fluid, the spider either seizes it, or else flicks it into the fluid 

with a leg if it is distasteful. Thus it defrauds the plant of some insects, 

but assists in the capture of others. There are three common species of 

Pitcher Plant in the Singapore district 

  Nepenthes gracilis 

Korth., 

N

.

rafflesiana 

Jack. and 

N

.

 ampullaria 

Jack. In the first 

Misumenops

 is 

plentiful, in the second rare, and in the third entirely absent. C. Dover 

(

vide 

Fage, 1928) has suggested that this